How Plays Work, distinguished playwright David Edgar examines the mechanisms and techniques which dramatists throughout the ages have employed to structure their plays and express what they want to say about the human condition. Whether we are playwrights or audience members, Edgar takes us on an exploration that starts with the building-blocks of whole plays structure, plot, genre and on through the construction of scenes and characters to the tiniest devices in the playwright s toolkit. He shows how plays share a common architecture without which the uniqueness of their authors vision would be invisible. What does Jaws have in common with Ibsen? What does Hamlet owe to Aeschylus? And how does a play like Top Girls really work? How Plays Work is a masterclass for playwrights and all theatre practitioners, but also a fascinating guide to the anatomy of drama.